3 weeks into my committment to CPAP-still some issues.

[atruvirgo]

So I committed to using my cpap after realizing how poorly my health was being effected from not being compliant. I am really giving it a fair shake this time. 3 weeks is the longest I have ever used my cpap. Here are the areas that are still causing me issues.

1.MAJOR Aerophagia
2.Still getting readings of AHI of 7 (could that be from leaks?)
3.Some eye inflammation still occuring.
4.Tried 4 masks in 3 weeks....same issue with all four masks. I have to cinch the masks too tight in order to get it to not leak near my eyes. It is very uncomfortable. I tried the following nasal masks: Micro Mirage Softgel, Activa LT, F&P 407, Soyala/EasyFit. I sure wish I could wear them looser. If I could it would be much more likely I could leave it on longer than 4 hours a night.

Things I have done to make it more comfortable: I bought a hose hanger from CPAP.com and love that I no longer get tugging on the hose. I have pad a cheeks on my headgear. I have done alterations on all of my headgears so that they are no longer too big. I use a hose cover. I tried Remzzzz's but they tend to cause the area at my eyes not to seal properly. I am using C-FLEX, with humidifier set to one. I ordered a mask liner for the Soyala from Karen soooo.....any suggestions on what I can do about issue #1-3 above???

I sure hope that someone has some ideas that I have failed to come up with. I am thinking of trying SWIFT FX for Her. I tried SWIFT LT for her about a year ago without success.

Again...thank you to all of the wonderful people here who take the time and care to help others.

Debbie

[robysue]

atruvirgo,

You asked for ideas on what to do about:

1.MAJOR Aerophagia
2.Still getting readings of AHI of 7 (could that be from leaks?)
3.Some eye inflammation still occuring.
4.Tried 4 masks in 3 weeks....same issue with all four masks. I have to cinch the masks too tight in order to get it to not leak near my eyes. It is very uncomfortable. I tried the following nasal masks: Micro Mirage Softgel, Activa LT, F&P 407, Soyala/EasyFit. I sure wish I could wear them looser. If I could it would be much more likely I could leave it on longer than 4 hours a night.

Here are my ideas for what they are worth:

1) Report the MAJOR aerophagia, the eye inflammaiontion, and the AHI readings of 7 to the sleep doctor's office and ask to speak with a nurse, a PA, or the doctor him/herself about these serious problems. You need to report these problems even if the suggestions you get are the same as you get from posters here on cpaptalk.com. The AHI readings indicate that your therapy pressure itself may not yet be at an optimal setting. And the aerophagia and eye inflammation are both things that may well (if not resolved in a timely fashion) lead you to abandoning CPAP again. And the doctor needs to know that (1) you do NOT want to abandon CPAP but (2) these side effects are serious enough that they may well lead you to abandoning it if you do not get some help in positively addressing them.

2) Aerophagia? All that I've been able to do for mine myself is to limit eating anywhere close to bedtime. My suppers need to be smaller than they used to be and farther away from bedtime than they used to be. (Since my PA has made bedtime 1:30 AM in an effort to defeat my insomnia monster, this is not a serious problem for me. But if I were trying to maintain a sensible bedtime of 11:00 PM it might be since I and my husband tend to eat supper late---as in 7 or 8 pm a lot of the time. Do a search for GERD and follow the lifestyle changes suggested for dealing with GERD even if you don't think you have it. If the aerophagia continues to plague you long enough and you keep complaining loud enough to the sleep doctor's office, they may eventually suggest a switch to a bi-level machine---which may or may not help. It has helped, but not eliminated, the aerophagia in my case.

3) Eye inflammation? First make sure there are no leaks. Since you are using a hose hanger, this next comment may not be relevant. But I'll make it anyway: Also make sure the exhaust flow from the mask is not bouncing off the covers or bed pillows and back into your eyes. [That happens sometimes with me with my Swift FX, but I route the hose under the covers.] If the problem is exhaust flow bouncing back into your eyes, a simple fix might be to shield your eyes with an eye mask or even just a simple hanky. The hanky seems to work for me---I just drape it over my eyes and tend to hold it in place with my top arm since I'm a side sleeper. If leaks are DEFINITELY NOT the issue and the exhaust flow is NOT the issue, then the eye inflammation just might be caused by pressurized air getting into your eyes via the tear ducts. In that case, you really DO need to report the problem to the sleep doctor's office. I'm not sure there are any real "fixes" for this problem---in my case as soon as I reported air getting into my eyes from inside my head, the PA immediately took notice and started saying my initial pressure setting might be too high. The problem largely went away when the pressure was reduced by a cm. I still get it occasionally, but not all night, every night like I did at the start.

4) Masks? No real suggestions except to say that I'd encourage you to try the Swift FX for Her. You said you were thinking about it. You might very well like it. You also said you'd been unsuccessful with the Swift LT a year ago. All I can say is I couldn't stand to have the LT on my face for even five minutes, but the FX works really well for me. It's all about those L-shaped straps the LT has: If they don't fit your face, the LT just won't work. The silicone in the FX is very flexible---too flexible in some people's minds---so wearing the mask is not a problem. But some folks do have problems with stability or leaks. Just read up on all the fitting tips that have been posted here before you try wearing it at night---and don't shove the pillow cones up your nostrils too far.

[atruvirgo]

atruvirgo,


4) Masks? No real suggestions except to say that I'd encourage you to try the Swift FX for Her. You said you were thinking about it. You might very well like it. You also said you'd been unsuccessful with the Swift LT a year ago. All I can say is I couldn't stand to have the LT on my face for even five minutes, but the FX works really well for me. It's all about those L-shaped straps the LT has: If they don't fit your face, the LT just won't work. JThe silicone in the FX is very flexible---too flexible in some people's minds---so wearing the mask is not a problem. But some folks do have problems with stability or leaks. ust read up on all the fitting tips that have been posted here before you try wearing it at night---and don't shove the pillow cones up your nostrils too far.

I was wondering about the stability of the headgear on the Swift FX for Her. I have short, fine hair. Things tend to slide down my hair. Some have said they wear a pony tail. Not an option for me. Also, does the silicon head piece rub or tear at the hair??

[cflame1]

some folks have added a piece of velcro (the hook side (hard side) of the hook and loop tape) to the back of their headgear to keep it stable.

[atruvirgo]

some folks have added a piece of velcro (the hook side (hard side) of the hook and loop tape) to the back of their headgear to keep it stable.

Does the velcro cause rubbing or hair pulling??? Bald spot anything like that? I just don;t need to add another issue to the mix

[robysue]

I was wondering about the stability of the headgear on the Swift FX for Her. I have short, fine hair. Things tend to slide down my hair. Some have said they wear a pony tail. Not an option for me. Also, does the silicon head piece rub or tear at the hair??

I can't speak for others. But here's my experience with the Swift FX with my fine, but curly mess o' hair.

The backstrap slips all over my head and I haven't yet bothered with the velcro trick for the silly reason that I didn't take Home Economics in 7th grade. So I didn't learn how to sew. So I don't even own a reliable needle and thread. I have bought some iron-on velcro, but haven't gotten around to ironing it on to the back strap---even though the backstraph slips all over my head.

Why? Because even though the backstrap slips all over my head, it doesn't seem to affect the remarkably good seal I get with the Swift FX. The only time I've had a seriously messed up leak graph was when I went to bed with a MAJOR MIGRAINE---as in the WORST migraine I've had in well over a year and the BiPAP's noise and the pressure and the mask and the straps were all aggravating the migraine. So I loosened the backstrap from my usual position ("almost loose enough to fall off") to "ridiculoulsly loose beyond all meaning of loose". I even wrote about the experience in a thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=59241&p=557187 ---the relevant part is in my second contribution to the thread. Another post where I describe how loose I wear the straps of the FX is located at viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56244&p=528994

So since I'm one of the ones fortunate enough to get good seals with the FX when the backstrap is rather loose and the slippage doesn't bother me and it doesn't seem to break my seal, I just haven't bothered with the velcro trick yet.

As for the silicone getting trapped in your hair. Yeah, I did have that problem. Solved it by asking Padacheek to make a pad that covered the entire silicone part of the frame (because I also don't particularly like the feel of the silicone on my face either.) The first pad worked wonders for me, although I did have to safety pin the top of the silicone frame directly to the pad to keep it from slipping out of the pad and into my air. And the pad made such an improvement in how comfortable the mask felt that I ordered a second pad so that I can just swap out the pads when it's time to change Kaa's outer skin if I'm lazy and I don't want to do laundry that very day. I am really, really happy with this solution to the silicone getting caught in the hair problem. The pad has the added benefit of protecting those of us with small heads and ears in the "wrong" places from having our ears irritated by the place where the backstrap and the silicon part of the mask come together since it pads that area very nicely too. I don't think Padacheek is advertising these full silicone frame pads for the FX yet on her web page, but if you want one, all you need to do is contact her and let her know what it is you want. She'll be happy to let you know how much it will cost and exactly how to order it.

[brazospearl]

I admire your decision to stick with your therapy and make it work! I have no experience with aerophagia or the masks you use, but I'd like to address the eye irritation concern. First, please talk to your doctor about this. I'm fortunate enough to have an eye doctor who knows about sleep apnea and cpap issues. When I told him about my eye irritation he looked for evidence of a disorder about eroding the lens (I think) but that wasn't my problem. I'm naturally dry-eyed, and that condition is made much worse with effective cpap therapy. Some of that lovely therapy air blowing up my nose travels up the tear ducts into my eyes. There is something called punctal(sp?) plugs, which sounded a little gross for me, so the doctor's suggestion was to get nighttime ointment for dry eyes and gel drops for daytime use. The nighttime ointment is pretty gooey and annoying, but I was able to stop using it after about 5 months. I use gel drops 2 or 3 times a day, and I also use a stretchy headband as a sort of eye mask to help insure that random exhaust air doesn't blow back into my eyes. Anyway, the eye irritation is a solvable problem, it's just one more thing you can fix!

[atruvirgo]

I admire your decision to stick with your therapy and make it work! I have no experience with aerophagia or the masks you use, but I'd like to address the eye irritation concern. First, please talk to your doctor about this. I'm fortunate enough to have an eye doctor who knows about sleep apnea and cpap issues. When I told him about my eye irritation he looked for evidence of a disorder about eroding the lens (I think) but that wasn't my problem. I'm naturally dry-eyed, and that condition is made much worse with effective cpap therapy. Some of that lovely therapy air blowing up my nose travels up the tear ducts into my eyes. There is something called punctal(sp?) plugs, which sounded a little gross for me, so the doctor's suggestion was to get nighttime ointment for dry eyes and gel drops for daytime use. The nighttime ointment is pretty gooey and annoying, but I was able to stop using it after about 5 months. I use gel drops 2 or 3 times a day, and I also use a stretchy headband as a sort of eye mask to help insure that random exhaust air doesn't blow back into my eyes. Anyway, the eye irritation is a solvable problem, it's just one more thing you can fix!

Believe it or not I do have punctal plugs. I have had one in my right eye for about 1 1/2 years now without any issues. They have put them in my left eye about 4-5 times but, they will not stay in that tear duct at all. I do see an opthomologist for a dry eye condition and he is aware of the cpap and also my raised CRP levels (inflammation). I just was prescribed a night time eye drop but, the insurance denied it so I am waiting for approval. I bought a very nice soft terry cloth sleep mask that has a strap that velcros in the back so I can slide the strap under the bridge of my mask and secure in the back. Oh boy I look adorable when I go to bed!!

[dtsm]

One option to consider for both hair issues and eye problems: try the Aeiomed Headrest in conjunction with a pur-sleep papcap [or papcap plus].

The exhalation port for the Headrest is above your forehead, and if the nasal pillow is properly positioned, you shouldn't have any leakages. To be extra safe, you could also use panty hose to secure the nasal pillow.

The papcap means no straps, velcro, etc. comes in contact with your hair. If you do a search for some of rested gal's posts, you see pictures of her mods to guide you along [note, it won't show the papcap]


PS - I've used eye ointment for over 10 years - my eyelids don't close completely, a by-product of hypothyroidism and the ointment is the only solution for dry ducts.

[Wombara]

I have been using a respironics nasal pillow for some time and have now been given a new nasal cradle. It leaks less, but does not stay in position as easily as you roll around. I now flip between the two.

[Janknitz]

Does the velcro cause rubbing or hair pulling??? Bald spot anything like that? I just don;t need to add another issue to the mix

I have very short hair and I can unequivocally say no rubbing or hair pulling, no bald spot. It simply prevents the strap from sliding--easy,elegant fix (thanks to UFO13)

I find hanging my hose is very helpful too. Otherwise the weight of the hose pulls the soft FX pillows out of the nose. By hanging the hose, the weight is not an issue and the pillows stay comfortably in place.